Congresswoman shares report of recent sexual misconduct by lawmaker

Representative Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) announced on Tuesday that she has been made aware of a recent incident in which a sitting congressman exposed himself to a female staffer after tricking her into coming over to his residence.

Comstock relayed the story to her fellow members of the Committee on House Administration during Tuesday’s hearing on existing sexual harassment policies.

“I wanted to close with something that I just had somebody tell me recently. This is about a member who is here now. I don’t know who it is, but somebody who I trust told me this situation,” Comstock said.

“This member asked a staffer to bring them over some materials to their residence. This young staffer — it was a woman — this younger staffer went there and was greeted with a member in a towel. It was a male who then invited her in. At that point, he decided to expose himself. She left and then she quit her job,” Comstock told the committee.

“This is really a much more complex situation… I think we need to have more training, know about the violence that we’re seeing in some of these situations that are criminal,” she added. “I would argue that that’s probably a crime in that situation.”

The identity of both the victim and the suspect were not given. Comstock called for victims to “name names” in order for Congress to get a better idea of what is happening — and who is to blame.

At the same hearing, Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) revealed that there are two current members who have been involved in sexual harassment.